. [applause] mayor lee: good morning. happy valentine's day, and thank you, gregg, for that very kind introduction. thank you for inviting me here again. it is a wonderful opportunity to talk about san francisco, our business climate, and what i can try to do to improve it, and how i can cooperate with oakland. i want to thank all of you because you played a great part in our economy and what we do and how we do it. i am happy to be here this morning to join all of you, and i am thrilled to be able to do this again. a year ago, i stood before you, and i had only been in office for seven weeks as the interim mayor of san francisco. the unemployment rate in our city was 9.5%. our city was faced with about

$380 million deficit, and we were struggling with how to meet a rising and increased cost in our pension and health-care obligations. a year later, our city has come together to tackle pension reform and balance the budget. most importantly, we put people back to work. in the last 12 months, we have created jobs for more than 17,300 san franciscans, bringing our unemployment rate to 7.6%. that is the third lowest behind marin county and san mateo, but i will tell you this -- as i study marin county and san detail, you know, they have got that wine up there in marin county. i think we consume the most of it. and in san mateo, i notice we have got a big airport there that is bustling.

we have a lot of contributions to the other two lowest unemployment rates. and just yesterday, our city controller's report give is more positive news about our economy. with revenues of about $129 million greater than expected and projected in the first six months of our fiscal year. i stand before you today just over a year in office, saying that 7 cisco's economic recovery is under way, and after years of deepening unemployment for families, we are turning deployment -- turning the corner. my message to our neighborhoods and our constituents is this -- the economic policies and strategies that we have been pursuing an working on have been

putting us back on track, but we also must stay that course. and though our revenues have surged from our economic growth, we must not be tempted to go back to spending habits and spending sprees that delay the hard choices that we continue to want to make and that we have been accustomed -- and we have got to make the hard choices that we have been accustomed to making the past few years. i think my hardest job for the next few months is going to be making sure that we do not return to those spending habits, and that we make short-term choices that get us -- and that we do not make short-term choices that get us into more trouble than we have experienced in the past. we have, for example, in our economy a requirement now by law that we balance our budgets not for one year but for two years,

and that is a much harder process to engage in, but one that we have to be very careful about. more than ever, we must double down on our reforms and a double down on innovation and future investment. we must, for once, treat government and our responsibilities as mayors as families to. that is, when we find an opportunity to save, we should save it, reduce unnecessary spending, and we must invest in our people and plan and save for our future. it is still unknown. things may look good. things may look good, and of about not depending upon federal or state government any longer for the programs we need to make our city successful. the building blocks of our

economic growth have been very clear. we are attracting and retaining jobs through our tech and biotech companies and are cleaned at companies. we have invested an want to continue our investment in small businesses. in my plan as i ran for mayor, we focused on job creation. we focused on creating a $5 million small business job loan program for our neighborhood commercial corridors. we are creating a job squad to make sure that our vacancies are reduced throughout all of the commercial corridors in our city, but i am very interested in making sure we have an opportunity to manufacture things in san francisco. we are joined by our director of sf made. that means not only do we invest in our intelligence sources to sell and manufacture, but i think that we can blend

technology with manufacturing. just yesterday, i was greeted at and kicked off the annual music technology conference in san francisco. you could literally see the way that music content is being delivered today, and it is building in the technology applications that are exciting. apple and google and pandora thatjean quan reminds me is headquartered here in oakland -- they are finding new applications the things going on in san francisco and finding different ways to make sure that content reaches people in the most comfort level. that is exciting. that is melding a whole exciting industry that used to be only in hollywood. now it has come forth and begun release browning in northern

california. then, within the hour of that, we broke open the walls and put in screws on the pac 12 media center. again, sports, like music, had a choice. they could continue the way they have done it, which is kind of locate in hollywood and be a more standard television approach, or they could think a new -- anew. it is about bringing that content into all the different venues, so they decided to locate their media center in san francisco with the idea, with the foundation that our technology applications and the innovation that can go on in sports and all the sports leaders can evolves and increase their market share with those applications, so we are excited about that. and we continue to invest in our international tourism and

our trouble. we have a program called china sf, something that i have embraced. we have two offices as a result of the work of our sister city in shanghai to increase business opportunities both way. fining companies to locate their offices in san francisco and spread their no. american headquarters here, and we have attracted one of the top five solar companies from china, locating their offices in san francisco. in exchange, we are bringing companies, whether they are architects, engineers, and intellectual properties -- they are locating their offices in china in exchange and getting help and support as the foundation for our offices, and increasing their international abilities. we want to bring those initiatives to latin america and to africa in the future and to

india. so you will see the models sprout during my administration to focus also on south america and these other international realms. i look forward to making trips into those countries to establish those offices. while we are manufacturing and doing the kinds of strengthening of our technology, i also want to make sure you know that i have formed an exciting and new relationship with our board of supervisors to make sure that we create policies that support job creation, job placement, and economic growth of our cities. we have ongoing a payroll tax reform. one of those monumental decisions that we made last year was too, as you know, negotiate with a number of companies, including twitter, to make sure that they saw the possibilities of benefiting from our payroll

tax exemption that was located toward mid market. in those conversations, when we landed them and they signed a long-term lease, and we understand their argument that we had to revise our payroll tax -- we are well under way with that. we have had a room full of businesses advising us. all the different chambers and members of the chamber of commerce are now engaged. for the next two months, we're getting that input about the best ideas going forward about how we revive the payroll tax with our hope that sometime in the next month or two, we will be able to introduce something for our november ballot. i have been a big and bracer of our policy for hiring locally, and we continue to not only work in the construction area where we have a local hire ordinance, but to bring that principle to events like america's cup, to all the larger events that by principle, if they locate and have that event in san

francisco, we can discuss with them how to hire as many local businesses and local people and sustain that employment opportunities, as possible. we had engaged in our technology companies primarily, but in many companies, financial and otherwise, trading partnerships, strategies with our schools and how to make sure our youth are trained in the right areas, getting the right focus so they can grow up in a city where not only can they see good schools, but that they can see the possibility that if they commit to those sacrifices to get a better education, that they can join the million dollar club, as i have often said. without that million dollar club, you are missing out. without that college degree, you are missing out on an opportunity to increase your marketability with jobs that we are creating in san francisco. in the technology world, we have

found some great partnerships. in fact, we created sf city, the citizens' initiative for innovation and technology -- technology and innovation. it is our partnership with technology companies to create job postings and training programs that offer our young and mid-career people an opportunity to get trained in this technology skills that our companies are looking forward to. within one month of announcing that, we have over 100 technology companies that have joined in sf citi. thank you very much for those of you that have done that. we have stronger policy analysis for looking at legislation between the mayor's office and the board of supervisors that will gauge the impact on jobs and for small businesses. we have signaled very strongly that we need to have businesses at our site to evaluate all of the legislation that we do so

that we can understand its impact on business. that is the level of commitment that i have made in working with the board of supervisors. i think we have signaled a new way of looking at things. finally, we have invested in the foundations of our city that ensure all of us can live here. we are investing in infrastructures. this november, we will propose a park spot to make sure that our parks are again world-class and that they serve all of our neighborhoods in the city. we have enjoyed a very lucky vote past november where our paving and streets -- that will produce $240 million of anchor for our streets repaving but also for infrastructure in our streets that allow you need to move faster, less congested, our curb ramps for persons with disabilities, a number of street park with that will be had.

bike lanes that will allow our bikers -- a lot of them want to be able to have dedicated green lanes. all of that has anchored into a very strong vote, one that was very difficult to pass because it required 2/3, and we were able to do that. very fortunate in our city to be able to have that. and, of course, improving our public transportation. muni continues to be a challenge because of its infrastructure and its debts, and we will continue paying attention to that, and that is why we have got to be always investing in our future, and transportation is a huge part of that, but we have been very successful in gaining federal grants for that in the past, but also making sure we can build infrastructures like the central subway that are well on its way, and you will see a little bit of

construction the taurus, but you will see in the near future that we will be able to bring people north and south quite easily in our new subway. i would say to you, as business leaders here, that i'm going to be about investing in innovation for our city. we've got to innovate our way out of recession, and we continue to see that if we do not do that, if we do not embrace innovation, if we do not melt technology, we will lose steps very quickly. that is why i have been embracing all these technology companies, to start in san francisco, to grow, and tuesday. they also represent our future. i have often said that -- and i have been both a participant an observer and a relatively new mayor, but i will say this to all of you, too -- we have got to make sure that our city

continues to be an investor- confident and an investment- friendly city. whether your investment is a family, whether it is a small business, or whether it is investing in someone else's business, no one is going to come to a city where the signal of the mayor with the board of supervisors for the lack of working together signals less than sure confidence that it is a good investment working with your city. that is what is attractive but sen francisco. i will continue making that very strong, and everything i do everyday will be to continue to create jobs in our city. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. and to welcome their -- mayor jean quan, ed wasserman, who is

very active in this community. [applause] >> i want to join in the welcome to all of you here on this valentine's day, a day for all of us to cherish our loved ones, including our love of our cities, which is what we're talking about this morning. wendell rosen is a law firm founded 103 years ago in oakland at 12 and broadway just across the street. we are still at 12 n. broadway. we have a little better view 24 floors up, and we are proud to be in oakland, and we are growing in oakland. we brought three new partners in last month, and we think we will bring three new partners in this month. on your tables is a tool kit

that you can use, and a few words about the breadth and ability of the lawyers in our firm. we are proud to occupy oakland. we have just signed -- renewed our lease for 52,000 square feet, and we are here for the long haul. my job this morning is to introduce genes -- jean quan. you know her story, and it is a great one. first woman elected mayor of oakland. the first asian elected mayor of oakland. first asian woman elected mayor of a major city in this country. she is proud of that. we are all proud of that. you know a lot about her story. you know she is a champion for

youth, for schools, and becoming a champion for economic development in our city. you know some of the difficulties she has faced. some of them are old -- crime, problems with our schools. some of them are new and not necessarily expected like the loss of redevelopment funds, and occupy oakland. and she has had successes. she brought a great new administrative team to this city with our city administrator, under fire chief, the police chief, and developing really strong leadership for our city. she has also made some mistakes, and she has had the courage to acknowledge them, which is not easy for any of us. i know it is not for me, and she gets credit for that. the solutions to occupy oakland

are not easy, and none of us can spell them out, but i do think that all of us, whatever we think about the occupied -- occupy movement and how it has been handled, can agree that not oakland, not any city should be expected to tolerate lawlessness or violent anarchy. [applause] thank you. she started the effort to make clear that oakland will not tolerate it at all. but amidst all of these things, there are some good signs in oakland. i'm sure that the mayor will tell you about some of them, and i'm sorry this keeps moving. you know that the "new york times" recognized oakland as the fifth best place to visit in the world. [applause]

behind london, but ahead of tokyo. the tagline they used was -- "restaurants and bars amid the grit." if you want to see what that means, go down to jack london square, have a drink at last chance saloon and go right next door to daniel paterson's new restaurant, and you will see the stars of the future. you may not know that "newsweek" recently recognized oakland as the second best can do city in america. in looking at 200 cities, they evaluated an interesting set of criteria, and i want to read through them very quickly because i think you will find them interesting. they looked at emissions -- 13 major pollutants/the population

to create a carbon footprint for oakland. they look at the increase in building permits, the increase in lead-certified buildings. they looked at the number of people who have health care. they looked at people over 25 getting college degrees. they looked at the number of it -- the increase in the number of people taking public transportation and walking to work. on the basis of all of those, concluded that we are the second-best can do city in the country. and we have known that for a long time. i want to end this with a couple of comments -- many of you know that i am very much a political animal and that i have had a very long will the -- love affair with this city, and it continues, so i want to give you a little bit of political advice. you prole another article of petitions out seeking to recall

mayor kwan. do not sign them. now is not the time to fuss with replacing our mayor in midterm. now is the time to work with her, to support her and her administration and council in making this the best city in america, the no. 1 can-do city in america. with that, it is my pleasure and pride to introduce to mayor jane kwan. >> this is an introduction i am going to remember for a while. i know the media -- last week, and gave the state of the city address. there were upset that my speech was not occupied. they said why don't you talk about them. based on the last arrest, more of them lived in san francisco

and oakland. i wanted to talk about the state of the city and where oakland is going. before i do that, i would like to wish my good friends have the new year. the first time i spoke in front of the business times group, i said it does not really mean " happy new year," but may you get rich and prosperous in the new year. most of us are from merchant families. probably, for our families, being rich was the same as being happy. but also happy valentine's day. i would like to know who we are talking to. how many of you are from san francisco? thank you and very much welcome. stay for lunch. how many from oakland? the rest of the east bay? i bet some of the work in san

francisco but live in oakland or the east bay. how many of you are like that? thank you. i always like to know who we are talking about. mayor lee and i know we are friendly competition, but the bridge -- the bay bridge economy is one in many ways. i will talk about oakland accomplishments and take a fresh look at the city, because it is probably not what you think it is. it is changing quickly. i am a pretty out-their mayor, walking neighborhoods and the retail areas. i am always surprised by my own city. but for the rest of the world, the difference between oakland and san francisco in the great california economy -- we have slipped a little bit. we are now the eighth largest economy in the world. the rest of the world sees the bay area as one unit.

in china, they see us as a golden triangle with san jose. there is the port, the bank. they think san jose has silicon valley. we know that is all changing. we are merging more and more into one economy. as jerry brown used to say, and this is the perfect setup with all the economic factors -- they are running out of space. our space is cheaper and more plentiful. as he used to say, it is faster to get to downtown san francisco from oakland than it is from most of san francisco. so i am glad that you came. we will grow together and will prosper together. i was going to get you chocolate hearts for valentine's day. did not have time. but we have a little fortune cookie we are going to give you at the end, a small remembrances. but the main theme of wanted to talk about today is that oakland

is on the rise, and we have -- i will not go into all the boring statistics. there are a couple hundred copies if you want to get it out. this last year, we created more than 5000 jobs, and moody's is predicting 8000 in the new year. we decreased unemployment by about 2%. our employment has been traditionally higher. we have strong pockets in oakland. in some ways, we are 2 u.s. cities. we are the second most literate city in california, 15th most literate in the country. on the other hand, i have deep pockets of poverty. you will hear me talk in the media allot about 100 blocks. there are 100 blocks in oakland were over 92% of all or violence takes place.

there are ongoing cycles of poverty, which i think our an excusable in our time. that is going to be a major challenge i am taking on. i believe if we can get more resources to young people in those neighborhoods, not only will murders go down significantly in the city, because of it are talking about 5%, but we can put our arms around them and make a change. i will ask you to step up and do your part. we're also in a city where other economic indicators are looking good. we're happy about retail. our sales tax went up over 12%, and that is above the statewide average increase last year of it%. building permits are up. business permit licenses are up. hotel tax, partly thanks to the remodeled marriott hotel, taxes

are up. what is interesting -- you are real-estate-centered people. many of those 2000 permits that are waiting for the economy to come up for business -- many of those people who have already gotten their permits approved for about 5000 new units are coming in to modify them, partly in reaction to the business climate. when we were in the middle of the condo boom, everybody thought they were going to make a fortune. they are coming back to modify them for a stable mix for the future of the city -- for office space, some rental, as well as condos. they are moving in now. they are planning to move with construction before their permits run out in the next year or so.